The Dragonslayer

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In modern fantasy fiction, killing a dragon is usually a job for an entire party of adventurers, or completely beyond most warriors' ability to harm. So how can the Dragonslayer do this themselves? Having a dragon-specific Weapon of X-Slaying and the strength to lift and wield it helps, but, beyond incredible strength and skill, they must have knowledge. Dragons traditionally have a brace of classic weak spots — a missing scale, the eyes and the mouth are particularly common — and knowing just where to hit the beast can be crucial. Dragons, especially in games, often have specific elemental alignments, and knowing how to properly exploit the Elemental RockPaperScissors can also go a long way.

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But that's assuming the truth. Dragon slayers have a reputation for being Miles Gloriosus, to the point where even the real deal is viewed with skepticism. Perhaps the one rumored to be a dragon slayer isn't, and you instead need to look for his brother, or maybe sister. Or maybe their great-grandfather was one, but nobody in the family knows how to do it anymore.

Due to the power and danger usually given to dragons in myth and fiction, the title of Dragonslayer itself can also be a highly respected and coveted one in-universe, as bearing it signifies personal victory over one of the most powerful and feared monsters around.

It is important to note that having killed one dragon does not necessarily make one a dragonslayer, just as having saved one person makes them a hero but not The Hero. This is basically part of their job description, meaning they generally hunt dragons, plural. The other qualification, of course, is surviving the encounter. Not the person who gets rid of The Dragon, unless we're being literal here.

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Anime & Manga

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker reveals that the family of Dragon Age II character Cassandra Pentaghast has quite a reputation as dragonslayers. In the course of the film, Cassandra takes out a grand total of six, five of them in the same scene.

In Delicious in Dungeon, Namari mentions killing dragons in the past. Later on, Team Touden slay a very powerful Red Dragon.

Fairy Tail has Dragon Slayer magic, which gives humans the physiology and powers of dragons, and is consequently the only technique capable of harming dragons. Ironically, the ones who taught mankind this technique in the first place were the dragons themselves, devised as a way to end a civil war against those who rejected peaceful coexistence with mankind. However, using this magic comes with the downside of turning the user into a dragon themselves, as was the case with Acnologia, the most bloodthirsty Dragon Slayer of all time, and the one who hunted dragons to near extinction.

In Monsters of Wanted! (1998), Ryuuma's greatest and best known feat was killing a huge dragon in a single hit. During the Punk Hazard arc of One Piece, Zoro mirrors Ryuuma by beheading a large dragon in a similar manner.

Parn from Record of Lodoss War has, over the course of the show, killed at least two dragons. One in the first episode and the other was an ancient dragon.

Lina Inverse from Slayers does not qualify, even though she's killed hundreds of dragons, because her technique is seen as overkill and not involving real skill. She does however meet an actual dragon hunter, on her quest for gourmet cuisine (he's less a BFS variety, and more a specialist that uses knife skills).

The Vision of Escaflowne starts off with Van fighting a dragon in a specialized dragon-fighting suit of armor. There's a folding pop-out shield that he can extend to protect him from flame breath, there's a crossbow on one arm, and if needs be he can shed the whole thing at once for added mobility. Dragonslaying is apparently a very important thing in his world, since it's how you get energist crystals for powering giant robots. It's also his rite of passage as the king of his small country.

Georgia of Pokémon's Black and White seasons is a self-proclaimed "Dragon Buster", a trainer dedicated to taking down Dragon-type Pokemon. To this end, her team is mostly made up of Ice-types, which were at the time the Dragon-type's only weakness aside from itself. Naturally, she's The Rival to Iris, a Dragon-type trainer.

In the manga Rain, the main character Rain gained the title of "dragon slayer" after he supposedly single-handedly fought and killed a dragon in one-on-one combat and absorbed the dragon's lifeforce and power.

Berserk: Guts' iconic giant sword, the Dragonslayer, is a seven-foot-tall slab of sharpened iron, created by the Ultimate Blacksmith who was asked to make a sword that could kill a dragon (back when fantasy creatures weren't a common sight across Midland), and pretty much can only be wielded by someone who's been training with seven-foot-long swords since birth. While it's yet to live up to its name in a literal sense (the one fight against a dragonlike Apostle by the name of Grunbeld was a draw), it's certainly killed a vast number of slightly lesser foes, and if there ever was a man capable of killing a dragon, it's Guts.

In Smax (the spin-off from Top 10), Smax is revealed to have started out as a professional dragonslayer before moving across worlds to become a policeman in Neopolis.

Marvel comics' The Mighty Thor related books have Sigurd (the Ever-Glorious) as also mentioned under mythology and, despite all the flaws this incarnation of the guy has (like being huge Jerkass), he killed a dragon and got even more immortal thanks to it.

Films — Animated

How to Train Your Dragon has a entire race of people who do this, as a necessity because the dragons raid them for their sheep. Hiccup proves unable to do it however, and befriends one of them. This changes everything. In the third film, we are introduced to Grimmel the Grisly, a famous dragonslayer, who has hunted every Night Fury to extinction. Only Toothless has somehow managed to slip through his grasp.

The film Fire and Ice had a man named Galador who slew a dragon. Too bad he died years ago, and his son had to do the job. His son, while not directly killing them, manages to take care of one by pitting it against another, and the second, an ice dragon by bringing down salt mines on it.

The lair of Dragon the dragon is filled with countless knights who attempted to slay the dragon in order to rescue the princess. When Fiona confronts Shrek (who just grabs the princess and runs) about not killing the dragon, he makes fun of what an ineffective strategy dragon killing would be.

If Shrek had not rescued Fiona, it's likely the only person who would have been able to kill the dragon and then rescue her would have been Prince Charming. This would have been a subversion too, because Prince Charming — who looks and sounds exactly like the stereotypical dragonslayer — would likely have only been able to win the battle because his mother was a powerful sorceress, responsible for Fiona being locked up in the castle in the first place.

The protagonist is a professional dragonslayer, seeking to kill the last dragon whose heart is making the king an immortal tyrant. He gives up the grudge after befriending said dragon and realizing that the heart only made the king immortal — the king was always evil. In the end, he has no choice but to act as a dragonslayer one last time to put an end to the villain once and for all.

The villain's mother, the Queen Dowager, also hires dragonslayers to kill the last dragon, so her son will die with him.

In Reign of Fire, Van Zan (and his fellow Americans) are all specialists in slaying dragons. They have knowledge of the dragons' weaknesses and exploit these with a range of specialized equipment, including a tank and a helicopter which can drop troops onto flying dragons to force them to land.

The aptly named Dragonslayer. The magician's apprentice Galen takes on the mantle to defeat the last known dragon during the dying Age of Magic. Thoroughly deconstructed as Galen may have the weapons - magical spear, dragonhide shield, and his mentor's powerful Amulet - but not the training to take on a monster. He himself cannot defeat the dread Vermithrax, but he does summon his mentor Ulrich Back from the Dead who does defeat the dragon in an epic duel.

Subverted further at film's end, when the corrupt King shows up, shoves a sword into the dragon's cooked corpse, and has himself declared "Dragon Slayer".

Another subversion: The spear itself is actually the titular Dragonslayer, as it's named by its maker Sicarius Draconum.note Latin for "Dragon Slayer"

Fan Works

Child of the Storm has Harry become this in the Of Dungeons and Dragons arc. While he is assisted by his father and a number of others, he does the bulk of the fighting against the Elder Wyrm, being sardonically referred to as "the Knight In Shining Armour" by Wisdom. Funnily enough, it's also quite literal, as Harry has at this point been knighted, thanks to the Battle of London, and is a member of the Order of the Garter.

Literature

Fred Saberhagen's The First Book of Swords. Nestor was already in the dragon-hunting trade when the god Hermes gave him Dragonslicer. With that Sword he found he could kill dragons easily.

Cadderly from The Cleric Quintet qualifies, even though he's a spellcaster. He managed to kill one with a explosive bandolier, and he managed to brainwash another into doing his bidding.

The main characters of the Forgotten Realms novel trilogy The Year of Rogue Dragons are an adventuring party who specialize in taking down dragons, slaying several evil dragons per book. It's Personal for the leader, half-golem Dorn Graybrook, who lost his family and two limbs to a dragon attack as a child. Over the course of the trilogy, though, he not only allies with several good-aligned dragons, but even falls in love with a female song dragon.

In The Hero and the Crown, Lady Aerin becomes a dragonslayer after working out a reasonably safe method for doing so. Her ownership of a powerful magical sword helps, of course.

Tom Holt's Paint Your Dragon plays with the trope. Saint George is an out-and-out treacherous bastard, and the dragon is closer to being a hero. The dragon just wants a fair fight.

In John Moore's Slay and Rescue, Prince Charming is quite the dab hand at rescuing princesses from dragons, and has developed several specialized techniques for dragonslaying. He just wishes the princesses would be a little more demonstrative in their thanks.

Invoked in the final book of The Wheel of Time, when Demandred proclaims himself to be the dragonslayer and a Dark Messiah. However, in his case the dragon he's come to slay is the local Chosen One, who goes by that title, not a scaly fire-breathing best.

Túrin Turambar slew the dragon Glaurung, father of dragons. Much as was the case of Sigurd and Fafnir, (from whom Tolkien drew inspiration) Túrin killed Glaurung by finding a place he knew the dragon would cross the River Taeglin, and stabbing him from below.

Eärendil slew Ancalagon the Black, greatest of all the dragons of Middle-earth, during the War of Wrath to end the First Age. Unlike many other examples, this was an aerial battle which Eärendil fought from his flying ship Vingilot, and his fall shattered the peaks of Thangorodrim. Additionally, Thorondor and his other Eagles supported the Hosts of the Valar by battling Morgoth's fleet of dragons in the air.

Discussed, as noted above, in the The Hobbit. As Gandalf and the Dwarves muse on what to do about Smaug to reclaim their treasure, it's discussed there are no more heroes left capable of slaying such a beast, and that is what led Gandalf to direct them to Bilbo, and to reclaim their treasure by thievery instead. And then it's played much straighter with Bard the Bowman; when a riled and angry Smaug attacks Esgaroth, he slays him by loosing an arrow into the one vulnerable part on Smaug's entire body.

Other cases of dragon-slaying are mentioned, as well, including that of a "long-worm" named Scatha, who was slain by Fram of the Éothéod. From his hoard came the Horn of Rohan, which was presented as a gift to Merry by Éowyn at the conclusion of The Lord of the Rings.

In The Kharkanas Trilogy, the Prequel to the Malazan Book of the Fallen, one of the early Tiste creation myths tells of Tiste heroes who slew a many-headed dragon, drank her blood and became gods. This is exactly the story we are presented with in the main series regarding how Anomander Rake and Silchas Ruin came to be draconic shapeshifters, namely by slaying Tiamat, the many-headed ur-dragon, and drinking her blood. This is yet another instance of this trilogy calling into question what had previously been established as fact in the main series, following the theme of Steven Erikson questioning how much we can truly trust what we know about history.

In the Lord Dunsany story The Fortress Unvanquishable Save For Sacnoth, the warrior prince Leothric sets out to kill the Nigh Invulnerable dragon Tharagavverug as it has the magical sword Sacnoth, the only weapon capable of killing the wizard Gaznak. Once slain and Sacnoth recovered, Leothric carves his way through the fortress. Inside there are several dragons, including Gaznak's pet Wong Bongerok, but with the aid of Sacnoth Leothric easily slays the dragons.

Saint George (c. 275-303 AD) is famous for slaying a dragon since the 11th century (there was no mention of George's dragon-fight prior to that). The real George was a Syrian-born Roman legionnaire who was executed for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods. The legend is possibly inspired by Eastern icons of George fighting a dragon in which the dragon was (in reference to the dragon of Revelation) merely a symbol of Rome and/or paganism, but eventually the scene came to be understood as literal.

Aided by his one faithful retainer Wiglaf, Beowulf battled and killed a dragon that had devastated his kingdom of Geatland, but died of his wounds afterwards.

Classical Mythology: Bellerophon was famous for killing the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster that was part lion, part goat, and part snake.

"The Lambton Worm": Sir John Lambton kills just the one somewhat draconic monster, but it's his defining accomplishment. The reason he succeeds when even other knights have failed and died is that he gets good advice from a wise woman about tactics, and he has the sense to act on it.

In Norse Mythology, the hero Sigurd a.k.a. Siegfried was chiefly famous for killing a huge dragon called Fafnir somewhere near the Rhine.

In one version of Tristan and Iseult, Tristan killed a dragon, but was so wounded in the process he fell asleep, allowing someone else to walk by and take out the dragon's eye to claim the kill (and the princess and half the kingdom). Fortunately, Tristan awakes to set things right, unfortunately, Iseult sees Tristan and falls in love with him (he has to escort her to his uncle, who she's betrothed to).

Pinballs

In Medieval Madness, the player must slay a dragon in order to rescue one of the princess by shooting the damsel ramp.

The Council of Wyrms campaign setting introduces the Dragon Slayer kit. Dragon Slayers are human beings specially trained to kill dragons. They are immune to dragon-caused fear, gain bonuses when attacking dragons, and have armor and weapons that are more effective against dragons. They are dedicated to the goal of eradicating dragonkind.

Then there are rangers who choose Dragon as their favored enemies. Of course, said rangers are encouraged to be very, very careful when working.

Draconomicon suggested that many of the dragons who become paladins end up as this — being paladins they are driven to confront evil, and being dragons they tend think more of dragons, including how much of an evil evil ones can be. They are also, of course, intimately familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of dragons...

Shadowrun. There is an organization of dragon hunters that killed many dragons during the down cycle while they hibernated, and continues to kill them today. One of them, going by the name Dragonslayer, has posted many times on Shadowland with conspiracy theories about dragons.

Depending on the edition, the God-Emperor of Mankind wasSaint George, though instead of killing the dragon he imprisoned it on Mars. That dragon might very well be the Void Dragon, a C'tan (the C'tan are among the most powerful entities in existence, its brother the Nightbringer having imposed its image into nearly all races as death incarnate, aka the Grim Reaper). However, this may have bitten him in the ass, as the Void Dragon has power over machines, and it is more or less implied the Adeptus Mechanicus' worship of the Omnissiah is strengthening the Void Dragon.

The Primarch Ferrus Manus once wrestled a strange silver dragon and plunged it into magma. The dragon's living metal skin fused itself onto his arms, granting him the ability to forge things without tools. The similarities between the Emperor's and Ferrus' encounters implies that the dragon Ferrus defeated was a shard of the Void Dragon, and that the metal fused to his arms is Necron Necrodermis.

Dwarf Slayers are dwarves who, to make up for some failure, become mohawked Death Seekers who look for the toughest monsters around so they can die a glorious death. Being dwarves, however, they're naturally quite good at killing the things, and so their failure becomes greater the more monsters they kill. They typically start as Troll Slayers, from there moving on to becoming Giant Slayers and eventually Dragon Slayers. Those who prove too tough for even dragons to kill then head into the Chaos Wastes as Daemon Slayers, and are never heard from again.

The human poet Felix Jaeger, companion to the world's most infamous Slayer, possesses a sword that was enchanted for dragon slaying. The effect is that Felix, who usually approaches Cowardly Sidekick compared to Gotrek, will turn into The Berserker any time they have to face off against a dragon. Fortunately, the sword gives Felix a few buffs to help him survive.

The Bretonnian Dukedom of Bastonne has produce more than its share of dragonslayers over its history. Gilles le Breton, Bretonnia's first king and himself a Duke of Bastonne, first rose to fame when he fought and killed the legendary dragon Smearghus, who had been ravaging the Bastonnian countryside. His descendant and current Duke, Bohemond Beastslayer, himself slew a dragon in his younger years and crafted his mace's shaft from its thighbone. The knight Jasperre le Beau, also called Jasperre the Dragonslayer, is particularly skilled at this; he killed the dragon Malgrimace while rescuing the king's daughter, and has since then killed many other dragons in addition to other monsters such as hydras, griffons and hippogriffs.

GURPS Dragons naturally has some material on creating dragon-slaying characters.

Video Games

In Destiny, there was an event known as the Great Ahamkara Hunt, in which the Guradians hunted down a species of dragons known as the Ahamkara. In this case, these "dragons" are dragons in a very loose sense, being Reality WarperEldritch Abominations that resemble large wingless serpents with dozens of eyes, who grant wishes and desires in exchange for knowledge and violent slaughter. In one case, this became a literal case of dragon-slaying, as Lord Saladin wished to fight a real dragon and the Ahamkara granted that wish, turning into one. In Destiny 2, the player ends up slaying Riven, an Ahamkara, at the end of the "Last Wish" raid.

In Dragon's Wake the player is a young dragon and the villain is a Black Knight that has already killed several dragons and intends to add the player to that list.

Hawke in Dragon Age II faces the entire gamut, ranging from Drakelings to a High Dragon. In the Mark of the Assassin DLC, they're invited to take part in Duke Prosper's annual Wyvern hunt, winning a prize for being the first to slay an Alpha Wyvern. Near the end, Hawke gets into a fight with Duke Prosper who in addition to using a crossbow, rides into battle with his trained Wyvern, Leopold.

CassandraPentaghast, in addition to being a member of the current royal family of Nevarra, descends from legendary Dragonslayers responsible for the near extinction of the entire species during the Steel Age. Pentaghast herself is no slouch, as seen in the Dawn of the Seeker film.

The Inquisitor and their party (which can include Cassandra) can slay a total of ten dragons, plus Corypheus's red lyrium dragon.

The Dragonborn in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the only one who can kill dragons permanently by consuming their souls. Others can kill them, too (in fact the Empire's Secret Police the Blades started out as dragonslayers), but this only kills their body, with their Aedric soul remaining intact. Their return from (near) extinction is revealed to have not been due to repopulating their numbers, but because Alduin's return allowed him to resurrect them from the burial mounds their remains were entombed in by the Ancient Nords.

Slaying the red dragon Tholapsyx in the first campaign grants you the history feat "Dragonslayer". The feat doesn't have any actual effect; it's just a cool thing to have on your resume.

In Storm of Zehir a completionist player can slay up to four dragons, and your first dragon kill grants "Dragon Slayer". This time, though, the feat adds +2 to attack and damage rolls versus dragons.

The eponymous characters in Dragon Valor are individuals who wield magic swords which are the only thing that can kill dragons.

King's Bounty Legends has the "Dragon Slayer" spell, which enhances attack against dragons and fire resistance. Plus, the Knights can deal bonus damage to Dragons.

In Drakensang Dragonslaying is a proud tradition among the dwarves, who have developed lots of special weapons (axes, hammers and large crossbows) specifically meant to kill dragons. To really drive the point home, Dwarves are said to have 18 words for "killing a dragon".

In Dark Souls, Dragon Slayer Ornstein earned the first part of his title, fighting alongside Lord Gwyn against the Everlasting Dragons in the climactic battle that allowed humanity to rise and flourish. There's a collection of dragon heads mounted in the castle in Anor Londo that provides proof of his kills. The Chosen Undead also gets the chance to slay up to five different dragons over the course of the game, and six with the DLC installed. Eight, if the hydras are included. It should be noted, two of those dragons were rotting zombies, two were deformed and maddened over the centuries, and one was a much lesser (though still powerful) drake. The only true dragon you face is in the DLC, and it needs to be crippled by a giant's arrow before it can even be touched. The Age of Fire prequel comics has as its protagonist the Silver Knight Akron who was given the title "The Dragon-killer" by Gwyn. However, the title is a lie: it was actually Knight Artorias who slew the dragon next to Akron — Gwyn merely misinterpreted the scene and thought Akron did it. Artorias never bothered to take credit, and Akron was too ashamed to correct Gwyn and accepted the title as a constant reminder of his own failings.

In Dark Souls III, the Dragonslayer Armour is a heavy armor resembling Dragnslayer Ornstein, equipped with a melted iron greataxe tailored for slaying archdragons and a greatshield resistant to lightning. It is in fact an Animated Armor controlled by the Pilgrim Butterflies like a puppet. The real Ornstein wasn't even in Lothric Castle, he's finding the Nameless King, Gwyn's first born son in Archdragon's Peak.

The Ashen One just like their predecessors also gets to slay their share. Wyverns show up occasionally throughout the game. One of the bosses is a human king whose obsession with Seath the Scaleless' knowledge mutated him into a grotesque dragon-like monster. The DLC once again has a true dragon to fight. And while this dragon may be the closest to a true dragon at its full strength unlike its predecessors, it's also implied that the centuries fighting against the Abyss have corrupted and eaten away at it. It's still one of, if not the most difficult boss in the franchise.

Prior to the Fairy type (and even afterwards), Ice-type Pokémon and moves were the go-to strong choice against dragons (especially if they were part Flying). Beyond that, the only way to cause super-effective damage to a dragon is with another dragon.

A few specific species are also known for their effectiveness against Dragon-types:

Sylveon was the first Fairy-type Pokémon revealed and the face of the type when it was introduced. In fanart, it's often depicted as having a fierce and violent disposition against Dragon-types, at odds with its pink, frilly, Tastes Like Diabetes appearance.

The Alolan variant of Ninetails is both an Ice- and Fairy-type. This makes it immune to and ridiculously strong against Dragon types.

The arcade game Dragon Buster and it's long distance sequel Dragon Valor for the original Playstation.

At one point in The Tower of Druaga, Gilgamesh must slay an enemy called Quox, who is essentially a dragon, even if Quox is never specifically referred to as such.

Dirk the Daring in the first Dragon's Lair game, though not so much in the second.

In Dragon's Dogma, the Arisens, whose their hearts are ripped by dragons (both literal and technical), are tasked to slay the dragon who stole their hearts. This is a Secret Test arranged by the Seneschal to seek for people who can succeed them, the dragons were those who failed on killing the Seneschal.

Might and Magic VIII has a faction of dragonslayers (who also dabble in dragon enslaving — they call it taming, but these dragons are sapient) in it partly for the glory and partly for the profit, whose elite fighters, like Jeric Whistlebone, are an individual match for at least the weaker dragons. They'd still have been stomped by a full-scale dragon assault if not for that one of their first moves was stealing the dragon leader's egg and threatening it if anything like that happened. If you return the egg to the dragon leader...

In both Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara games, there is an optional boss fight against a massive red dragon. Slaying it causes a dragon icon to appear over your name in the top score list declaring you a dragonslayer.

Visual Novels

When the dragon shows up on Earth in Dra+Koi, a dragonslayer instantly shows up to fight her. It has no other purpose than slaying the dragon. It's actually just a suit of armor and a weapon to be used by the real hero, who is the real dragonslayer. The person wielding it is called the dragon slayer or the hero: They have no name given.

Neron the paladin in Sword Daughter became a legend by slaying the blue dragon Slag, and a temple was built in his honor. Turns out Slag's less dead than legend would have you believe, but Tyrna and Gavin can finish the job.

The Nasuverse has multiple instances of Heroic Spirits whose legends are defined by having killed dragons, such as Siegfried, Sigurd, Beowulf, Saint George, and Saint Martha. Several of them are so renowned for it they've gained abilities that allow them to better kill or subjugate dragons or those with Dragon Ancestry.

Dragonslayers are an actual species. They are humanoids with random unusual features similar to dragons and have natural magical abilities. They are the only species innately strong enough stand up to dragons. In truth, they are dragons, who decided to secretly shapeshift into human-like forms, befriend humans, integrate into human civilization, and use humans as easy meal tickets by protecting them from their kin.

There is also a human named Steen Dragonsbane who has made it his life's mission to wipe them out. Defeating a dragon is believed to be a near impossible feat for a human, but thanks to his Super Strength, years of experience in their weaknesses, and the weapons he has made from their corpses, he has killed quite afew.

When a dragon shows up, Noah proudly proclaims "I will slay the dragon." It's clear that he would have easily been able to defeat it, except it was actually a summoned monster receiving an immense amount of power from an outside source, allowing it to heal from any injury.

Magus was training to fight dragons and other monsters before he got trapped in the main world. The way he talks about it, it seems like magic and monsters are so common in his world that the job is more like being a firefighter than a mythical hero.

Iroh from Avatar: The Last Airbender is famed in story for slaying the last dragon left in the world, earning the title Dragon of the West. Really, however, he lied and left the last of the dragons alive and only claimed to have killed them so they could live in peace.

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